US Oil Inventories Climb As Fears of Global Shortage Persist

Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 6.2 million barrels during the week ending March 13, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 449.3 million barrels according to government data, which is still 1% below the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories saw a surprise build of 6.556 million barrels…